Before MFP I was in a huge calorie deficit?

CharlieBeansmomTracey

if you were in a 1000 calorie deficit you would be losing 2lbs a week. if you arent losing you arent in a deficit. even though weight loss isnt linear you would still see losses here and there. also you are matching your food packets to the database entries and they are correct but are you weighing said food? food packaging can be off by up to 20% PER SEERVING. so a 35g serving if not weighed can end uo being 45 or more. my protein bars says 60g on the packet. most are over 62g. some as high as 68g. rarely are they less. same with bread or anything else.

some apps overestimate calories. I know one I used to use would give me 1 calorie every 5 seconds. there was NO way I was working that hard and thats impossible. if Im really working hard and my heart rate is up I know for me I burn about 5-8 calories a minute. now if its low impact and Im not working that hard its like 3-5 calories a minute. I can get 10 calories a minute but thats doing Hiit or something very high impact which I dont do often. even when I biked I would get 8 calories a minute which may not be a lot.

ArmouredMuscle

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

if you were in a 1000 calorie deficit you would be losing 2lbs a week.....but are you weighing said food? food packaging can be off by up to 20% PER SEERVING. ....

some apps overestimate calories. I know one I used to use would give me 1 calorie every 5 seconds. there was NO way I was working that hard and thats impossible. if Im really working hard and my heart rate is up I know for me I burn about 5-8 calories a minute. now if its low impact and Im not working that hard its like 3-5 calories a minute. I can get 10 calories a minute but thats doing Hiit or something very high impact which I dont do often. even when I biked I would get 8 calories a minute which may not be a lot.

I didn't monitor myself before (hence I'm doing it now) but on the odd occasion I did weigh myself I was going down in weight however, nothing rapidly.

Yes I do weigh my food and I do appreciate the packets can vary but I'd like to think it averages out over time.

I also take my exercise now with 'a pinch of salt'. However even though my apps could be saying I'm burning more than I think and I've been going to negative calories by 100-200 a day for 2 weeks, I have lost 0.5kg. Despite eating more than I used to.

YES I'm weighing my food, YES I'm checking the figures against the packets, YES I'm making allowances for inaccurate exercise tracking, YES I've lowered my activity level and being aware of double tracking, YES I weigh myself at the same time each week. By my BMI I'm overweight but my profile pic is about a month ago so you tell me (80kg 5ft11" BF% don't know).

BUT if I'm overeating calories and completing my dairy where MFP says I'll gain weight...I've actually lost...albeit not much. I'm beginning to wonder why bother tracking my intake and output?

fitoverfortymom

How long have you been at it (sorry if I missed it in an earlier post)? If you're looking at a maintenance situation, it's a very slow moving thing. You could try logging your weight daily (weigh under the same circumstances each day) and log in an app like Libra (Android) or Happy Scale (Apple). This helps smooth out any loss/gain/maintain trends.

It really does come down to CICO, but it's also not super linear. We don't all have one true weight--it's constantly changing. Keeping an eye on the trend will help you keep your exercise/diet goals in check.

ahoy_m8

I guess you're right, then. Counting calories doesn't work for you.

AnnPT77

CookieVenator wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

if you were in a 1000 calorie deficit you would be losing 2lbs a week.....but are you weighing said food? food packaging can be off by up to 20% PER SEERVING. ....

some apps overestimate calories. I know one I used to use would give me 1 calorie every 5 seconds. there was NO way I was working that hard and thats impossible. if Im really working hard and my heart rate is up I know for me I burn about 5-8 calories a minute. now if its low impact and Im not working that hard its like 3-5 calories a minute. I can get 10 calories a minute but thats doing Hiit or something very high impact which I dont do often. even when I biked I would get 8 calories a minute which may not be a lot.

I didn't monitor myself before (hence I'm doing it now) but on the odd occasion I did weigh myself I was going down in weight however, nothing rapidly.

Yes I do weigh my food and I do appreciate the packets can vary but I'd like to think it averages out over time.

I also take my exercise now with 'a pinch of salt'. However even though my apps could be saying I'm burning more than I think and I've been going to negative calories by 100-200 a day for 2 weeks, I have lost 0.5kg. Despite eating more than I used to.

YES I'm weighing my food, YES I'm checking the figures against the packets, YES I'm making allowances for inaccurate exercise tracking, YES I've lowered my activity level and being aware of double tracking, YES I weigh myself at the same time each week. By my BMI I'm overweight but my profile pic is about a month ago so you tell me (80kg 5ft11" BF% don't know).

BUT if I'm overeating calories and completing my dairy where MFP says I'll gain weight...I've actually lost...albeit not much. I'm beginning to wonder why bother tracking my intake and output?

You bother tracking your input to quantify how many more calories you need to eat in order to accomplish your goals.

MFP just gives you a starting estimate, based on very limited input of data in your profile, and on formulas that peg you at the middle of some bell curve for others with those stats in research studies.

You follow that starting estimate for 4-6 weeks, logging carefully, then you know whether and how much you as a unique individual need to adjust to meet your goals.

That's it. It's estimates, approximation, and statistics, not magic or revealed truth.